The Muse
by Short Moose
Summary: A Future regeneration of the Doctor meets a young woman who flips his world upside down. Future DoctorxOC pairing. I do not own Doctor Who.
1. Wait  What?

Oh boy. Cocoa Puffs or Frosted Flakes? Either way, she's not going to be happy. Sharon is never happy when I grocery shop. Let's try Frosted Flakes; maybe she'll at least appreciate the effort.

I sighed as I place the blue box into my cart, "If she doesn't like it, she can just shop for herself." I mused disappointingly as I started to place our normal week's worth into the cart: bread, milk, orange juice, various frozen dinners, etc. We never did anything special for meals, well, except for birthdays.

"Mrs. Manchester, Mrs. Manchester!" I called from across the store when I saw our next-door neighbor.

The tall, seventy year old woman with white hair, a blue trench coat, and a tan leather patched purse looked up from the oranges she was comparing and smiled at me. "Hello, Dear." She said once I came closer to her. I leant over just a touch to give her a nice hug. "Oh, you keep growing." She said lovingly, pulling out of our embrace.

"I try not to." I said sheepishly, pushing my dark hair back behind my ears.

"Oh, I remember when you had your father's beautiful red hair. Sharon, too." Mrs. Manchester used to have red hair too.

Unconsciously touching my hair, I said full of nostalgia, "Yes, I miss being ginger."

She looked over towards my semi full cart. "Doing your weekly shopping?"

I nodded and smiled. "Yes. And you?"

She, too, nodded. "Yes."

"Where's Mr. Manchester?"

"Visiting an old friend in Pine-Wood. He's not doing so well."

My face dropped. "I'm sorry to hear that."

"James was too. He seems to spend all his time next to Tom Oliver's bed."

"Poor, Mr. Oliver."

She nodded in understanding. "I know. I'm sorry to cut this visit short, but I was going to make James lunch and take it to him."

"Of course. I'll see you later."

"Goodbye, Sweetheart." And she turned her cart towards the cash registers and left. I stayed for a few minutes more, picking out different fruits and vegetables before leaving as well.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~

I was walking down the wintery streets of London, heading back home. It wasn't too far away from the store, just a couple blocks south. I was carrying two large paper bags full of food, minding my own business in my dark green pea coat when this guy in a tan sport coat ran into me, knocking me down, and spilling all of my newly bought food all over the street.

"Oi!" I shouted at the man who kept running. He stopped and turned around when he heard my yell. "What do you think you're doing?"

"Pardon?" He asked, walking back towards me.

"Did your mother not teach you manners? You run into me and you don't even say 'sorry' for it?"

This man, this tall, blonde, wiry man put his hands in his pockets and looked slightly sheepish. "I'm sorry. Look, can I make this up to you later? I'm kind of in a hurry."

"Where're you going?" I asked, picking my things up and throwing them haphazardly back into the bag while he just stood there, looking awkward.

"Um..." He looked around, as if trying to make sure we were alone. It was eleven in the morning on a Wednesday; of course we were alone. "I'm not really sure."

"Then why are you in such a hurry?"

He kind of chuckled as he thought up an answer. "Well, that is a very good question. One that I will answer..." The man trailed off when he looked in the direction he came from. "At a later date. Gotta go!" And he ran off.

I turned to see what he was looking at, but there was nothing there. I turned back around, shaking my head and scoffing at the man and continued on my way. I didn't go very far before I saw it: a nine foot tall blue police box, hidden away in an alley. "Aw great." I said, walking a little faster. "Just what I need, another one of _them_."

~.~.~.~.~.~.~

"Sharon!" I said loudly when I entered the small, two bedroom house we shared.

"In here!" She replied from another room.

"Where's here?" I asked myself as I slumped the grocery bags onto the kitchen counter and took off my coat. I went into the living room and was completely shocked at what I saw. "What are _you_ doing here!"

The blonde man from before smiled from the couch. "Hello, there. Nice to see you again, too."

"Mumu, this is the Doctor." Sharon explained, getting up from the chair opposite the couch and came over to me. I hate that name so much.

The man held his hand out with a smile. "Hello." He tried again.

Reluctantly, I shook it. "Hi."

"Now, I bet you're wondering why I'm here." He let go of my hand and started pointing his finger in a teacherly manner.

"Sort of. Bet you can't tell me what my next question is." My eyes followed him when he started pacing around the room.

"Wait." Shannon intercepted. "You guys know each other?"

"No-"

"Yes." The Doctor said over me. "We're old school chums."

"Really?" Sharon asked me.

I stared at the Doctor with cold eyes, and he stared calmly back. He knew. "Yeah. Old school chums."

"You guys don't sound like it." Thank you, Captain Obvious.

"Well, we didn't exactly leave it on good terms." The Doctor explained, still standing in the same spot, his hands in his pockets.

"Oh, were you the boyfriend?" Sharon asked so obliviously.

"What?" The two of us asked simultaneously.

"The boy that you were going out with all throughout high school. Uh, Geoffrey something."

I sighed and rolled my eyes. "Sure. Geoffrey, can I talk to you outside for a second?" I grabbed the Doctor's arm and dragged him out the door. Once I had shut the door tightly, I crossed my arms over my chest. "I have a few questions."

"Fancy that, so do I." Again, he put his hands in his pockets.

"What are you doing here?" My voice had a threatening tone.

"Me, I'm just traveling. What about you?" He raised an eyebrow and gave me a quick once over.

I gave him a nice sarcastic smile. "I am living my life."

His eyes became very focused and...scared, almost. "I know what you are."

"What am I then?"

"You're a timelord."

I shrugged my shoulders. "So are you."

"Yes, but I'm supposed to be the last." The Doctor sounded more confused.

"Well, Doctor," I leaned up against the door, rubbing my arms, trying to keep some body warmth. "You are no longer alone."


	2. Story Time?

"Here," The Doctor shrugged off his jacket and handed it over.

"I'm good, thanks." I denied his offer.

"You're freezing, just take it." He tossed it to me, and of course, my first reaction was to catch it.

I reluctantly held on to the tan corduroy sport coat. "Aren't you going to be cold?"

His shoulders shrugged, moving his white dress shirt and navy blue sweater up and down. "I have a sweater and you have a shirt. Just put on the jacket."

"Fine." I slipped my arms through the sleeves and my insides melted. It was so warm! "Thank you." I said, my lips thin, hiding my warm and fuzzy feeling.

"I feel like you owe me an explanation." Pretty boy say what, now?

"Excuse me," I started, an offending tone making itself prominent. "I was perfectly fine being who I am, minding my own business in this world, and then _you_ come along and literally knock me down. If anyone deserves an explanation it's me, pal!"

"I've been alone longer than you can imagine!" The Doctor came back, his face turning a light pink hue.

"Keep your voice down." I growled moving towards him, covering his mouth with me hand. I placed my ear next to the door and listened carefully. And there's the breathing. "Go to school, Sharon!" I yelled to the door.

"I can't when the door's blocked off!" She yelled back. "Are you guys making out, out there or what?"

I chuckled, let the Doctor go, and opened the door. "Go to class before I ground you."

She bounced out of the house, pink pea coat matching her pink messenger bag. "Don't do anything I wouldn't do!" Sharon teased, waving her hand back at us as she went right down the street.

I waited until she was half way down the street before I turned back to the Doctor, my voice once again slightly hostile. "Get inside, and shut up till I close the door."

He stared at me as he willingly went back inside and I shut the door behind us. "Why did you quiet me?" The Doctor asked very offended.

"Because Sharon doesn't know!"

_That_ shut him up. "What?" Well, for a few seconds anyway. I sighed and led him to the living room and sat him on the couch while I took spot next to him.

"Sharon doesn't know. About anything."

His mouth was hanging open. "How can she not know who she is?"

"My dad told me when I turned thirteen, and he left before she was nine." I shrugged; like that life was the most normal one out there.

"What about your mum?"

"She…went with him."

"Why did he leave? When?"

My eyes became a little glassy at the memory, "I don't know why." I replied sharply. "But as for when, it was the day after my birthday. They tucked me into bed the night before, and when I woke up in the morning they were gone."

"That's terrible."

"Yeah, I know. I was there, remember?" I added the last part bitterly.

He completely ignored it. "When a timelord is eight years old, he is shown the void in space and time. Why did your father wait?"

I shrugged my shoulders again. "Do you know an eight year old that can keep a secret? And stop interrupting. Do you want to hear or not?"

"He just told me about Gallifrey, and the people that lived there. He said some were timelords while others weren't, but we definitely were. And after, he showed me where his old TARDIS was and gave me the key to it. There wasn't that much to it."

The Doctor's eyes lit up. "He has a TARDIS?"

"Well, it's mine now, but yeah." It was my turn to feel offended.

"Yours, right, sorry." He apologized rather quickly. "Um, would you mind showing me your TARDIS?"

"Kind of. I don't show it to anyone."

He was silent for a moment, taking in the currently exposed information. "Why haven't you told your sister?"

I looked at him like he was dumb. "You have met Sharon, haven't you?" He chuckled a little at that. "She can't keep a secret worth a damn." I pulled the opening of his jacket together, keeping out a strange draft that appeared. "Do you feel that?"

The Doctor's eyes widened and he took a quick look at the front door before shouting. "Get down!" Grabbing me and throwing us over the back of the couch.

"What the-?"

The Doctor clamped his hand over my mouth. "Keep quiet." He breathed in my ear. And so we laid there, listening to silence. Ever so slowly, He reached into the suit jacket pocket and grabbed something. "Stay here." He ordered, letting me go and turning onto his stomach. He poked his head around the corner of the couch and immediately shot back when a gray puff of smoke hit the wall. "Don't breathe that in. It's an extremely potent sleeping gas. Anyone would be out for a week."

I nodded vigorously. "Right. Be right back." I swiftly got up and bolted through the house, narrowly missing several shots.

"Oi! Oi! Come back!" The Doctor shouted at me, popping up from behind the couch, and then hitting the deck again when the monster turned to him.

I entered my room, slammed the door behind me, and rummaged through my dresser drawers until I found one of my dad's trinkets. Maybe this will work.

The door was pounded, the whatever-it-was trying to break in. When I heard the door open, I closed my eyes, pointed the trinket towards the seven foot tall gas figure and pressed the little button on the side. The tip of the trinket lit up purple, made a funny buzzing noise, and the light above the door exploded and a bolt of electricity shot from it and hit the figure.

A high pitched shriek erupted from the figure. Did it just scream? I opened my eyes long enough to see the figure let out a large puff of smoke before disappearing. Is that jasmine I smell? Oh dear. "Doctor?" I called out, my eyes rolling into the back of my head. "I breathed it in-" I fell backwards, my head making a loud _thunk_ against the wooden floor.


	3. Magical Dreamland and Head Smacking

_"Are you sure you have enough blankets? It's supposed to be very cold tonight." My father asked me as he did a final tuck in. I was practically cocooned in my bed by the time he was done. _

_"Yes, Daddy. I'm sure." I said as I patted the quilt and fleece blankets on top of me._

_"Alright, I was just making sure." He smoothed down the top of my hair. "Did you enjoy your birthday?"_

_I nodded and my eyes lit up. "Yes! It was the best one ever! That story was so amazing!"_

_"Sweetheart," his voice dropped. "You do know that you can't tell anyone about it, right? That story is a secret between me, you, and your mum."_

_"What about Sharon?" The excited spark in my eyes had disappeared._

_"Your mum and I will tell Sharon the story when she gets older. When she's your age." There was something about him that just didn't sit right with me._

_"Are you alright, Dad?" I asked, tilting my head a little to the left._

_He sadly chuckled and nodded. "Of course I am." Liar._

_We sat in an awkward silence for only a moment before I asked, "Is the story true? About Gallifrey?"_

_He gave a small smile. "Yes. Very true."_

_I had a large grin on my face. "I want to go there one day. Can we go there?"_

_"Maybe one day." His tone of voice again betrayed him. He patted my stomach through the blankets. "Well, kiddo, I believe it's time for you to get some sleep. You had a big day today."_

_I yawned. "Okay, Dad." He got up from sitting my bed._

_"I love you, kiddo, so much." He kissed my forehead before heading towards the doorway. "Goodnight,-"_

_"The Muse!" I sat up and said excitedly. "Can I be called The Muse?" That spark had returned._

_His smile grew and he nodded. "Yeah. The Muse." He pondered over the name for a brief second. "The Teacher and The Muse, what a pair we make." I smiled along with him. "Goodnight, Muse."_

_"Goodnight, Teacher." He shut off my light, I laid down, and went to sleep._

~.~.~.~.~.~.~

My eyes fluttered open, and I saw the blonde man's handsome face above mine. "You alright?"

"Please back up." I said calmly, keeping my voice in a stoic manner rather than one freaking out.

"Okay, I'll ask again: Are you alright?" He backed up and held his hand out for me. I grabbed it and he pulled me up from a grated floor. I heard the sound of my feet hitting the floor and looked around. "Don't freak out." He warned me, letting go of my hand and backing away slightly.

"Where," I started, taking in the golden room. The interior looked familiar: golden walls, a large…thing in the middle of the room. "The hell am I?"

"My TARDIS?" He suggested, already starting to cringe away.

"Your WHAT?" I screeched turning sharply towards the Doctor.

"TARDIS."

I stalked up to him and cornered him in front of the large thing in the middle by placing my arms on either side. "Take. Me. Back."

"I can't." He swallowed.

"Why not?"

"Because we are headed to," The Doctor looked over at a screen. "Twenty-eighth century, planet of Okrasinki."

"You _kidnapped_ me?" I moved my hands to grab at his collar.

"Only a little." He tried to defend himself.

I gave him a good shove. "Take me home!"

"I told you I can't!" He shouted back at me.

I dropped my hands out of frustration. "I have to get back!"

"Why? Why is it so important for you to get back? You're an out of work substitute teacher who's wanted nothing but to travel!"

My face fell. "How did you know that?"

"You talk in your sleep."

"Then you should know that I wanted to travel to Gallifrey, not Okrasinki."

He was starting to lose his patience. "Well I can't take you to Gallifrey."

"Can't can't can't! Is there anything you _can_ do?"

The Doctor's face became flushed with anger. "I'm taking you to Okrasinki aren't I? I took you away from that crappy life you were leading!"

"Well sir, that 'crappy life' was all I had! My sister! I have to get back to my sister and make sure she doesn't screw up!"

"Let her screw up! She's young, she needs to learn from her mistakes!" He retaliated, throwing his hands into the air.

"What if she finds out, huh? What if she blows the whole timelord secret?"

He scoffed. "It's not like anyone's going to believe her. No one is going to listen to a crazy college kid."

"Says you. When I was in college, people believed everything you said." I crossed my arms over my chest, he mimicked me.

He stared right into my eyes for a moment. "Come with me on one adventure. One adventure," He interrupted my rebuttal. "And I will take you home."

I stood there, staring coldly at him. What else could I do, he was just going to hold me hostage until I agreed. "Fine." I said through thin lips. "_One_ adventure."

The Doctor's face brightened and he became quite excited. "Fantastic! Grab your coat, it's very cold." He went over to a coat rack in one of the corners of the room and grabbed my green pea coat. He tossed it over to me and I caught it on instinct. "Oh, and you're going to want this." He came over to me opened his sport coat that I was still wearing, reached into the inner pocket, and held out the trinket that my dad had left me.

"What is it, exactly? I've had it all these years and I still have no idea." My anger was subsiding.

"It's called a sonic screwdriver. I have one sort of like yours." He pulled his out of his pants pocket and held it up against mine. "A sonic screwdriver can basically do anything, tell you the name of a species, fix a machine, send a shock of electricity from a light bulb…"

"Oh," I took my screwdriver and looked at it. "So that's what it does. I've been pondering over this little thing for years."

"Well ponder no longer, get on your coat and let's hit the road!" He grabbed a black pea coat from the coat rack and threw it on.

"Uh, do you want your coat back?" I asked him, awkwardly playing with the ends of the front.

He gave a one sided smile. "You might want to keep it on, it is very _very_ cold out there."

I blushed a little and slid on my green coat over his tan one. Once I was all bundled up, he opened the door to reveal a snow infested landscape, a small city in the distance. "We're really doing this?" I asked, butterflies invading my stomach.

The Doctor grabbed my hand. "Yes, Muse. We're really doing this, let's go." And he took me out of the TARDIS and closed the door.

I stared at the tiny police box. "You know, this resembles my TARDIS, except its blue and mine's red."

"Yours is a regular phone booth?"

I nodded. "Yeah. That's funny." I smiled a little.

He stared at me incredulously for a minute before holding out his hand for me. I stared up at him, and made to grab his hand but instead slapped him in the back of the head.

"Ow, much." He rubbed the spot.

"That was for kidnapping me." I smiled again and grabbed his free hand. "Let's go." He forgot about his pain and we starting running off towards the city.


	4. This Is Not Fun Anymore

"So, what do you think?" The Doctor asked when we took our first step into the city. It wasn't as wide and large as London, but it sure was as pretty as it. Most of the buildings were made out of brick, and they all shared the same triangular shaping. It was dark out, and every light in the city seemed to be on.

"It's beautiful." My eyes were jumping from one skyscraper to the next. I was just completely fascinated by everything.

The Doctor smiled. "Yes it is." He looked down at me. "You want to check it out?"

"Yes!" I said, a little too excited. He was about to lead the way into the city when I let go of his hand, turned around and hugged him. He was thoroughly surprised, and as soon as he started to hug me back, I pulled away from him. "Thank you." I couldn't keep the smile off my face.

"For what?" He cocked his head to the left slightly.

"For kidnapping me." He smiled at my answer.

"Hands up." A deep voice said behind us. We both turned our heads and we came face to face with a very obese man. He looked human, save for one thing: his eyes. They were completely black with a red slit down vertical middle and the horizontal middle, with a small yellow dot at the cross.

"Hello, I'm the Doctor." The Doctor smiled widely, holding his hand out. "This is the Muse, she's a pal of mine."

Following his example, I too, stuck out my hand. "How do you do?"

"I said," The man raised the nozzle of a strange looking weapon up to my face. "Hands up."

"Alright, sorry about the delay." I slowly raised my hands up, my smile falling inversely.

"State your business." The man ordered, shoving the nozzle closer to my face.

"I personally don't think the gun's necessary." The Doctor attempted to calm the man down. "We're just passing through."

"No one passes through here." His voice was even more threatening than his eyes looked. "Get out."

"We can't."

"We can't?" I turned to the Doctor in confusion.

"Nope. We can't." The Doctor kept his eyes focused on the man.

"Why not?" The man's tone seemed to get darker.

"My spaceship is broken." The Doctor began to explain, dropping his hands a little. "I need a part for it, otherwise it won't fly, and then we'll be stuck here."

The man squinted his eyes. "What part is it that you need?"

"A sphygmomanometer." I piped up. The Doctor shot me look of surprise. "We need it to read the…pressure, so it doesn't overheat." What am I saying?

The man glared at us for what seemed an eternity before he growled. "Fine. Come with me." He turned us around and continued to poke our backs with his weapon until we moved forward.

He took us through the city, people staring at us with those same eyes, all of them unhappy to see us. The city was not at all what I had thought originally. It had an eerie feel, like something died there, and the ghost still reigned.

"Get inside." He ordered when we had reached a building composed of entirely grey bricks. We obliged without saying a word. Apparently, we were in a jail. And this was not just any jail, apparently this place was full of criminals (only a few of the main alien race). But these criminals were not only sitting around bored, they were all staring at tickets that they had. He opened one of the free cells and pointed us in with the gun. "Go on. Inside."

"Alright, alright, calm down." The Doctor said as we willingly went into the cell. Once the man had slammed the door on us and began walking away, the Doctor began to protest. "Oi, what about our sphygmomanometer?"

The man gave a menacing chuckle when he turned back to us. "You think you can fool us?"

"No one's trying to fool you, mate." I lied confidently.

"Do not lie to me!" He shouted. "We do not like outsiders! We do not like liars! We do not like anyone!"

"And who's 'we'?" The Doctor questioned, not a shred of worry in his voice; it was more like curiosity.

A sneer grew on the man's ugly face. "Mroskians." The man turned sharply, grabbed something from the wall and came back to us. "Your number." The Doctor snatched it from him and the man left, slamming the door on his way out.

I stood just behind the barred door, my drooped head resting between two bars. "So," I began a minute or two after the Mroskian's exit. "What do we do now?"

"We wait." He sighed, moving away from the door and sitting on the bench adjacent.

I turned my head toward him. "For what?"

"Twelve-hundred-and-ninety-eight!" A voice called.

The Doctor started rubbing small circles at his temples. "Our punishment."

"Punishment? How bad?"

He took in a deep breath. "Well, they can range anywhere from instantaneous death, to laying on a bed of hot coals until almost death, cooled off and healed, and then put back onto the coals until death."

I let my head fall back between the bars. "Is there any outcome that doesn't lead to death?"

"I'm sure there has to be one." He looked at me and gave a tiny smile. "Come here." He patted the spot next to him. I let out a large breath, pushed myself off of the bars, and went to sit next to the Doctor. "I'm going to get you out of here."

"What if you can't?"

"Well, then at least we went out with a bang." He joked lightly. "I was just kidding." He threw his arm around my shoulders to try to comfort me. "We'll get out of here."

"Twelve-hundred-and-ninety-nine!"

I stayed quiet for another couple minutes before, "If we don't, I'm going to kill you."

The Doctor laughed. "I am very sorry about this. If I had known about this city, I would have picked a different planet."

I shrugged. "There's not much you can do about it now."

"Well," He said in a speculative tone. "We could always try to escape."

"That's…unethical." I shook my head.

He leaned over and whispered, "Well, we are in a very desperate situation. I think desperation beats ethics at this point."

"How would we do it?" I asked in the same hushed tone.

The Doctor pulled out his sonic screwdriver from his coat pocket. "These don't just electrocute gas monsters, you know."

"What's that?" A different Mroskian shouted at the Doctor. They must have sent in a guard to watch after us while we weren't paying attention.

"Nothing. It's a pen." He lied, making writing motions in the air with it.

"Give it here!" The man shoved his hand through the bars.

"I'm telling you, it's just a pen." The Doctor defended.

Until he got a muzzle pointed right at his head. "Give it here, now!"

"It's a cheap pen, you wouldn't want it." He continued.

"Thirteen hundred!"

"If you don't give it up, I'll shoot your girlfriend." Again, a gun was shoved into my face. He froze and seemed to panic, albeit on the inside…which only caused me to panic.

"Doctor, just give it to him." He turned his head and looked at me. "Please. If this is going to help get us out of here, then it's worth it."

He let out a mix of a sigh and growl as he reluctantly handed over his screwdriver. The Mroskian started laughing as he snatched it out of the Doctor's hand and went back to patrol the other cells, all of which seemed to be empty.

The Doctor wasn't saying anything, he seemed angry, which is understandable. "What's the ticket for?" I finally asked him

"They call out numbers to see who gets punished next. According to our ticket, they have sixty-seven people to go before they get to us." He was irritated. My bad.

It was my turn to put my arm around his shoulders and try comforting. "Hey," I started, using that same hushed tone. "Don't sweat it. We'll get your screwdriver back."

"And how do you know that?" He asked in a very snarky way.

"Because we still have my screwdriver." I mumbled to him, and his snarkiness fell away. "Now calm down, and let's think of a plan to get out of here before our number's up."


	5. Waiting

After my watch ticked nine o'clock, they stopped calling out numbers. Our number was two away from being called. The Doctor and I had been sitting on the bench, mumbling nonsense small talk back and forth.

"Come up with anything yet?" I asked, slumped on the bench.

The Doctor shook his head. "No. There's nothing to come up with." He was sitting next to me.

I sighed, "Great." I slumped down even more, resting my head against the side of his arm. "So what do we do, now?"

"We go up when our number is called. Just like everyone else." He gave a huge sigh and hit his head against the wall.

"Hey," I sat up. "Can I see that ticket?"

"No." He said, giving me a saddened stare. "You don't want it."

"Yes I do. Can I please see it?" I held out my hand.

He grabbed my face and held it still. "No. Promise me that you will not touch the ticket."

"But-"

"Promise me." He begged; that stare becoming more and more desperate.

I nodded slightly, "Okay. I-I won't touch it. I promise."

He let me go. "Alright. Now look, it's late, why don't you get some sleep?" The Doctor offered.

Shaking my head, I said groggily, "I'm not tired."

A chuckle escaped from the Doctor's lips. "Of course you're not. Why don't you just rest your eyes, and I'll wake you in a few hours?"

Unconsciously, I curled into side, resting my head on his shoulder. I pulled my coat tighter around me, now thankful that I had kept his sport coat on. "Promise?"

He smiled, wrapped his arm around my shoulders and rested his head on mine just a touch. "Yeah, I promise." I nodded, closed my eyes, and drifted off. Once I was out, the Doctor's smile faded, took a deep breath, and wished he didn't have to do what he was going to.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~

"Muse. Muse, wake up." The Doctor whispered as he gently nudged me awake.

I rubbed my face in his shoulder, and peeked up at him. "What time is it?" I mumbled.

"It's morning. Look, they're going to start calling numbers soon and I have to talk to you."

I sat up, shook my head, and became fully awake. "I'm up."

"I just want to let you know, that from here on in, everything I own is yours." He was calm, and his voice was sad, almost depressed.

My eyebrows knit together. "What are you talking about?"

"I mean all of my clothes, my TARDIS and everything inside it, all belongs to you."

"Why?" I panicked.

"Thirteen-hundred-and-sixty-five!" The number calling started again.

I began breathing more and more, on the brink of hyperventilating. "Oh my God, oh my God, oh my god!"

" Oi, calm down. It's okay, you're okay."

"What are we going to do? Oh my God, Doctor, what are we going to do?"

He grabbed my face again. "I told you, we are going to go out there with our heads held high. And we are going to be okay. Muse, listen to me." He stared straight into my eyes. "We are going to be okay."

And because he was him, I believed it. My breathing calmed down, and I nodded. "We're going to be okay."

He nodded along. "Yes we are." He let my face go. "Now, let's sit calmly, and wait our turn."

I took a deep breath. "Okay, I'll try."

Without saying another word, the Doctor took hold of my hand and I leaned against him. A few minutes went by before we heard, "Thirteen-hundred-and-sixty-six!" I cringed at the number, and the Doctor only squeezed my hand. We waited, and waited, and waited, until we finally heard it. "Thirteen-hundred-and-sixty-seven!"

A Mroskian came to our cell and opened the door. We stood up, hands still together, and walked proudly out. We were led down the hallway to a closed off room. The Mroskian opened the door and ushered us inside.

We were in a court room. A very obese Mroskian with an old fashion powdered wig on sat in the front of the room, an upset look on his face. We walked up to the 'bench' and looked up.

"Hand over your ticket." The judge ordered. The Doctor reached into his coat pocket and handed over the pink stub. The judge took it, shook it, and yellow finger prints appeared. He looked from the ticket down to us. "Shake your hands. Both of you." We let go of each other and shook our hands in the air. "Show them." We held our hands up, palms towards the judge. The judge nodded towards the Doctor. I looked at my hands, confused, and then looked at his: they were covered in a pink ink

"State your crime." The judge ordered.

"Traveling." The Doctor replied.

"Traveling?" He inquired.

The Doctor nodded. "Yes. I was traveling and my sphygmomanometer broke. I stopped here to see if I could get a new one and be on my way."

"Travelers are forbidden." The judge growled. "Bring it in." He rumbled, and the Mroskian that escorted us left and came back a few moments later, carrying a large gun.

"Whoa whoa whoa, what do you think you're doing?" I asked, panic arising yet again.

No one answered my question. "Turn it onto random." The judge commanded. The Mroskian flipped a switch and aimed it at the Doctor. "Any last words?"

He nodded. "Yeah. Well, it's more of an action than a word." The Doctor turned to me, grabbed my face, and brought it to his. His lips crushed mine, and I couldn't help but bring my hands up to his head and pull him closer to me. He deepened the kiss only a little before he pulled away. I was left literally breathless. "Nothing like going out with a bang, huh?" He whispered before turning back to the armed Mroskian.

The alien took aim, and pulled the trigger.


	6. Oh, Dear

The alien took aim, and pulled the trigger. The nanosecond before, I ripped my screwdriver from my coat pocket, pointed it at the gun, and pressed the little button. Both machines lit up, and both made a strange noise. The Doctor yelped when he got hit by the gun's charge, and I kept my screwdriver pointed at it. The green light of the gun and the purple light of my screwdriver kept fighting until they finally exploded, destroying the court room and disintegrating the Mroskians. I was thrown back against the wall, hitting a few broken chairs along the way; the Doctor, too, was thrown back, only into the podium and then into the wall behind it.

It took a few minutes for me to reevaluate the situation at hand, get up from the apparent crater that I had made, and shake off the damages. "Doctor?" I called out, starting a bout of coughing. "Do-Doctor? Are you alright?"

"I'm over here." I heard a small voice say through the crackling of the fires that had begun.

"Where?" I asked, tripping over debris as I stumbled toward the voice.

"Right here." I ran after the voice and started throwing pieces of wood off of the ground, searching for that strange man. After I had thrown a few large chunks of wood, I saw his hand and began smiling with joy.

"Doctor!" I began uncovering him, and froze when I saw him. "Oh, my word." He lifted his hand, I grabbed it, and pulled him up from the ground.

"What?" He asked when he saw my reaction. "What's the matter?"

"Uh," I was in shock and I couldn't really put my finger on how to tell him. "Come on, we've to go." I grabbed his hand and practically dragged him through the building.

I stopped by the desk in the corner area of where the cells are, the other prisoners hooting and howling at the capture of the other guards, and rummaged through drawers until I found the Doctor's screwdriver, and we ran out, dodging and sneaking past the crowd that had begun to gather. We kept at a dead run, trying to outrun those that had decided to follow us. One skinnier Mroskian had left his house and had caught up to us.

"If you want to get out of here keeping going forward until I say so." He said our way, and then slowed down so as to fall behind us. I looked at the Doctor, and he only shrugged so we kept running. We had passed two alleys before we heard, "Left!" So we shot down an alley to the left. We kept running straight, and then, "Right!" We followed the path between the buildings right. "Left in three…two…one!" We took a sharp turn left and ran into a building, the Mroskian behind us. Once he was inside, he slammed the open door closed and barricaded it with a chair.

The Doctor and I were panting as we looked around the room we were in: It seemed like a normal living room with a few chairs and a sofa, but there were so many light bulbs that coated the walls, and all of them were on, making it extremely hard to keep my eyes open.

"Alright!" I pulled out the Doctor's screwdriver and began swinging it accusingly about. "Who are you and what do you want with us?" All the while keeping my eyes shut.

"_Procul_." Someone said, and the lights dimmed enough for me to see. "You two are lucky I saw you coming into the city. If I hadn't, you wouldn't have made it out." I watched the Mroskian move from the door to the Doctor. He gave him a quick overview, his eyes getting a bit wider when he stared the Doctor in the eye. "I've never seen someone this old before, even after that ray."

"What exactly happened in there? Why is he like this?" I questioned.

"Like what?" The Doctor asked, extremely worried. "What the hell happened to me?"

"You have been de-aged." The Mroskian backed off of the Doctor and left the room.

He turned to me. "What does he mean 'de-aged'?"

"Well," I tried to break the news gently to him, going into it slowly. "You're still the same height, and you still generally look the same, but…" I trailed off, really not wanting to tell him like this.

"But what?"

"You look like you're fourteen." I spurted out, preparing to be hit or yelled at.

His face fell and his eyes widened. "What?"

"She means that you look very young. According to your eyes though," The Mroskian came back into the room with another sort of gun in his hand. "You should have been a shriveled up old man." He pointed it at the Doctor, and I stepped in front of him.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! There's no need to be pointing weapons! We followed your orders remember?"

"Step aside." The Mroskian lowered his weapon. "I will not hurt your husband."

"He's not my-"

The Doctor pushed me aside. "It's okay, Dear. Just do as he says." He let the alien shoot at him with a yellow beam. The beam had changed the Doctor's entire appearance, altering his natural face and body into one that resembled a Mroskian.

"Don't worry." The Mroskian said, aiming at me. "It will wear off in a few hours." He changed me as well, and then turned back to the Doctor. "You're a human, right?"

"No, well, maybe, well, sort of…a little bit."

The Mroskain gave him a skeptical look and said, "If you are a human, you will age normally."

"Okay," I started. "So, the big 'punishment' was him being turned into a teenager? How is that really a punishment?"

"Not everyone turns young." The alien spat. "One of you tampered with it, and it changed what he would've been, in this case a baby." The Mroskian seemed almost sad when he said that.

"Are you okay?" I asked him, approaching him carefully.

He nodded. "Yes." Liar. "Come, we must get you out of here." He led us through the house to a trapdoor in an otherwise empty closet. "Follow the path and it will lead just outside of the city. Leave and do not return." He ordered.

"Why are you helping us?" I inquired as I made my way down into the hole.

"I do not share the same prejudices that the rest of my race does. I do not believe it is fair to imprison every foreign being that comes upon our city. So, I built this tunnel and have smuggled quite a few out of here." Be smirked proudly.

"Thank you," The Doctor shook the Mroskian's hand. "What's your name?"

He shrugged. "I don't have one."

"Don't have a name?" I asked.

The alien shook his head. "No. No one in this city does. We're all the same."

"Except you." The Doctor clapped him on the shoulder. "Good luck to you." He climbed down the hole and we began our journey back. The tunnel was quite large, being about six feet by eight feet, and it had a lamp on both sides every few yards.

It was only a few minutes before we reached the other end. We ascended out, and stared back at the city that we left behind. It was still beautiful, but now I knew why it had felt so eerie, and I no longer wanted to adventure.

"You ready to go home?" The Doctor asked me.

I nodded and grabbed his hand. "Yes. Let's go home." We turned away and started walking back to the TARDIS, leaving the city, the inhabitants, and the culture behind.


	7. What Now?

The Doctor and I had made it back to the TARDIS, our disguises wearing off. I hadn't remembered the walk from the TARDIS to the city being that long, but nonetheless, we had returned. He opened the door, let me go in first and then followed.

"I don't know about you," He yawned, shutting the door behind him. "But I am about ready for bed."

"Bed?" I looked at him and he only put his arm around my shoulders.

"Yes, bed. It's been a very long adventure and I think it's time for a nap." He steered me toward the back of the TARDIS where two rooms had appeared. "You can pick either room."

I gave a glance at both doors, and then nodded my head to the left. "I'll take the left."

He nodded, let my shoulders go, and opened the door for me. "M'lady." He bowed his head when I walked in. The room was average size, the walls a navy blue with stars on the ceiling. The queen sized bed had a matching blue bedspread with a golden headboard. "I trust you like the room?"

I nodded and turned back to him. "It's beautiful. Thank you, Doctor."

"You're welcome. I'll…leave you to it, then." He began backing up, slowly shutting the door. "Goodnight."

"Night." He closed the door, and I stared at the bed. Who did he remind me of?

Suddenly, the door opened and the Doctor popped his head back in. "Oh, um, by the way, I don't know why you and Geoffrey broke up, but you are a fantastic kisser."

A bright red blush crept up my cheeks. "Uh, thank you. You are as well."

"Thanks." A similar blush appeared on his face. "Right, um…go-goodnight." He stumbled over his own words slightly.

"Goodnight." I said through a large smile.

He closed the door again. I couldn't stop smiling as I threw my jacket off. I was going to take the sport coat he gave me, but thought better of it and kept it on. I kicked off my low-top Chuck Taylors, and lay on the bed. It was the most comfortable bed I had ever been on. It was soft, but it was firm enough so that I didn't sink, the pillow…_had_ to have real feathers in it. It was going to be a good night.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~

The Doctor leaned against my door, smiling like a fool. How could he not smile? He stayed against the door, still smiling, for a few minutes before he composed himself a little and went into his own room. It was very similar to mine, the only real difference being the color of the headboard: It was silver instead of gold.

"How long has it been, old man?" He asked himself, taking off his shoes. "How long since you instigated a kiss?" He had to think about that one. Running a hand through his short blonde hair, he said, "Two regeneration cycles? Three?"

His smile faded a little when he looked into the mirror on the back of the door. "And now she's going to leave. Because you are not an old man anymore."

A knock on his door brought him out of his reverie. "Come in."

I opened the door. "Doctor?"

"Yes, Muse?"

"Um, can I ask you a question?"

He nodded and patted the spot next to him on the bed. "Of course."

I sat down. "What if the M-Mroskians followed us? Couldn't they just come in and kill us then?"

A small chuckled fell out of the Doctor's mouth. "No." He shook his head. "You need a key to get in."

"Oh." I was relieved, and a little disappointed that a key was all it took.

He took note of my disappointment and added. "But if it makes you feel any better, you can stay here." He shrugged. "Two Timelords are better than one."

The blush came back to my face. "Are you sure you want me invading your space?"

He blushed as well. "I wouldn't mind that much."

It had hit me. "Oh my God." My blush sharply fell.

"What? What's the matter? I didn't get younger, did I?" He shot a glance to the mirror to check.

"I know who you remind me of." My shoulders dropped.

"Who?"

I shook my head. "I can't tell you. Look, I know you're tired, but can you please take me home."

The Doctor's heart broke at my words. "Yeah." He said lowly, getting up from the bed. "Yeah, let's get you home." We avoided each other's gaze as we left his room and walked back to the main control room, keeping at least a foot of space between us. He pushed several buttons and pulled a few levers before the TARDIS began shaking like an earthquake. It was an extremely violent ride, me falling into the Doctor more than once. Once the shaking had stopped, I got up from the floor (where I had last landed), and kept that distance between the Doctor and I.

"There," He said, looking at a monitor. "It'll be like you never left." He sounded very sad, and disappointed.

I kept my lips thin. "Thank you." I moved a little closer to him. "Um, thank you again for taking on an adventure with you, but I think I've had enough adventure for one lifetime."

He simply nodded. "Uh, if you should ever…" He trailed off, dropping his previous thought. "Try not to let your TARDIS die. Take it out every now and then."

"Maybe I'll just give it to Jenny," I thought out loud. "She stops by every now and then."

"Jenny?" The Doctor's eyes widened. "Who's Jenny?"

"Another Timelord I met a while back. She checks in when she's tired of traveling."

He gave a short chuckle. "I can't believe you know Jenny." He said in awe. Sure he'd heard a few things about her in his travels, but he'd never actually talked to someone who interacted with her.

"_You_ know Jenny?" I raised an eyebrow.

The Doctor nodded. "Yeah, I met her once. Great kid."

I agreed. "Yeah, she is pretty cool." There was a silence between us. After a few moments of us just standing there, I said, "Well, I should be going."

He nodded again, "Yeah, you probably should."

I turned away from him and began for the door when I turned around and launched myself at the Doctor. I crashed my lips upon his, and he eagerly responded. He grabbed my waist and brought me closer to him; I pulled his head down and opened my mouth a smidgen. He didn't want to let me go, he didn't want to break our contact to breathe, but he had to. The Doctor reluctantly took his lips from mine, but he wouldn't allow the distance between us to expand.

"You don't have to go." He whispered, making an attempt to keep me from leaving.

I nodded. "Yes I do, I can't leave Sharon."

"Be my companion, travel with me." He practically pleaded.

It really hurt the both of us when I said, "I can't, not when you look like that."

His heart shattered into a billion pieces this time. But he tried not to show it. "I understand. You don't want to be seen with a fourteen year old."

I shook my head, turning back to the door. "It's not that. You just look too much like him."

"Like who?"

I didn't answer. I just left, shutting the door of the TARDIS behind me.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~

Dejectedly, the Doctor went back to his room, shutting the door and punching the mirror, effectively breaking it. He didn't care about the fact that his knuckles were bleeding, he just slammed the door open, slammed it closed, opened the door to my room, and punched the mirror there, this time with the other fist.

He was so angry. He had never been this angry over a companion leaving him before; he didn't quite understand why he was feeling this way. He sat on my bed, nearly sitting on the coat I left behind. He picked it up from the bed and rifled through the pockets, finding his screwdriver, a purple click-e pen, and a wallet. The Doctor opened the wallet, filed through my driver's license, bank card, some dollar bills, and a picture caught his eye. He pulled it out and instantly knew why I'd left.

He didn't waste any time in sprinting back to the control room, pushing more buttons, pulling more levers, and practically falling over as the TARDIS jumped back into life.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~

_Ten Years Earlier_

I sat in my new classroom, playing with my new hair, in my new private High School. I hated this new skin, it made me so uncomfortable; even more so than this stupid uniform (green and blue plaid skirt and plain white blouse). I didn't know my own face yet before Dad shoved me into this new school. Everyone's talking around me. They probably all know each other from elementary school. I pulled my long hair a little harder, expecting to see red. I saw black instead, and my face fell.

"Hi!" I jumped when as boy sat next me with a huge smile on his face.

"What are you doing?" I said, leaning back in my seat.

"I'm saying 'Hello'."

"Hello?" I responded.

"Are you okay?" He asked tilting his head to the left.

"…Yes." I lied.

He squinted his eyes. "Are you sure?"

My eyes fell. "No."

"What's the matter?" His blue eyes pierced my brown ones.

"I miss my hair." I shrugged as I played with it nervously. "It used to be red."

"I wish I had red hair." He ran a hand through his short blonde scalp. "Of all the times my hair has changed it's never been red." The boy held out his hand. "I'm Geoffrey."

I shakily took his hand. "Re-uh, Muse. I'm Muse."

"It's very nice to meet you Muse." The door of the classroom opened, and a freezing breeze wafted in. I shivered tremendously. "Here," Geoffrey shrugged off his dark blue suit jacket and handed it to me.

"I'm good, thanks." I politely declined.

"You're freezing, just take it." He got up from his seat and placed it over my shoulders.

I blushed a little. "Aren't you going to be cold?" I asked, reveling in the warmth of the coat.

He shrugged, moving his uniform green and blue argyle sweater up and down. "I have a sweater, you have a blouse."

The blush became a deeper shade of red. "Thank you."

"You're welcome. " He smiled at me like he'd known me for a while. He kept staring at me, and after a few minutes, I finally got uncomfortable.

"What?"

"Do you want to go out with me?" He blurted out.

"Excuse me!" I exclaimed, thoroughly shocked.

"Do you want to go out with me?" He repeated.

My eyebrows knitted together. "I don't even know you."

"All the more reason we should go together."

I really didn't have a response to that. "But," I began, trying to piece together an answer. "Why?" Obviously I didn't come up with anything good.

"Because I have a feeling you are quite adventurous."

I shook my head. "I really hate 'adventuring'. I like to stay home."

"Well then," Geoffrey said, thinking up a new excuse. "How about, you would make a great traveling companion?" He said with a smirk.

"What's that supposed to mean?" I didn't know if I should've taken offense to that or not.

"Anything you want." He kept staring at me.

"You're not going to go away until I say 'yes', are you?"

He shook his head, a smile gleaming upon his face. "Nope."

I sighed, giving him a good look: He was tall, unlike me, had short blonde hair and bright blue eyes. "Okay, I'll go out with you."

Geoffrey beamed. "Fantastic! How about a date this Friday?"

"What did you have in mind?"

"Spoilers."


End file.
